My last week of maternity leave has now come to an end. I’ve had a brilliant year, but I think the time is right to go back to work, and I’m confident Ellie is going to learn a lot at nursery that I would struggle to offer at home. So there has been a type of reverse nesting this week, preparing to re-emerge into the working world. This involves: a) panicking about being able to get everything done, get E to bed and still manage to get some dinner on the table (answer: buy a slow cooker); and b) very belatedly getting around to all sorts of jobs that require someone at home (sofa to charity – tick!). Fortunately, there has also been a bit of time to enjoy the sun, and do a little gardening.

Recipes:

• Pork and veal meatballs, loosely adapted from the Baby Led Weaning cookbook
• Confit tomatoes and caramelised onions in the slow cooker from Slow Cooked (bookmarking all manner of things in this – love the writing)
• Potato and rosemary bread – The Bread Baker’s Apprentice

Without a recipe:

• Steak and wedges
• Chicken risotto in the oven

Reading:

• Comfort food doesn’t actually work – you’d be better off just waiting, and you’ll feel better anyway
• From the new Food52 cookbook, Genius Recipes comes this top ten of genius recipes – the ones that change your whole approach to a dish. Intrigued by this Herve This recipe for chocolate mousse made with just chocolate and water
• Peach, pistachio and ricotta friands sounds like a recipe for spring
• I loved this piece on how setting a regular date to host a meatball dinner on Fridays is a good idea. I think we’ll try and institute something similar with a monthly Sunday lunch.
• I’m interested to try this pastry recipe from the esteemed Serious Eats, which combines all the fat with some of the flour to make a paste before incorporating the remaining flour.